Pub manager sacked for 'no travelers' sign

The manager of a Cambridge pub has been sacked for displaying a 'no travelers' sign.

Bar & Taverns Company Limited, which holds the tenancy of Greene King's Grove in Arbury, dismissed the manager the day after he put up the sign, which read: "No travelers you (sic) still barred."

Pubs risk prosecution if they refuse to serve an individual because they are a traveler. Irish Travellers and Romany Gypsies are defined as ethnic groups and protected under discrimination laws.

Colin Atkinson, area manager at Bar & Taverns Company, said: "We were made aware of the sign and ensured this was removed immediately. The manager responsible for the sign was new to the pub and is now no longer in our employment."

The Grove was temporarily closed but has now re-opened with a new manager.

Rhona Bell, who speaks on behalf of travelers' rights in Cambridgeshire, told the Cambridge News that the sign was "disgusting".

"Discrimination like this happens sometimes but I thought things were getting better. Obviously they are not and it is not acceptable."

The risk to pubs was highlighted in 2006 when a pub company and manager were forced to pay £8,000 after a customer was refused service because he was a traveler.

Manager Carol Griffiths of the Blue Mile in Littlemore, Oxfordshire, and pub owner React Inns were ordered to £2,500 for injury to the person's feelings, plus £2,500 damages and £3,000 court costs, at Oxfordshire County Court.